Nuclear Energy Agency Online Bulletin

Covers new material for June 2006:

New nuclear data just released

Nuclear electricity generation in the OECD area provided 2 236 TWh in 2005, about 1% less than the previous year. This is due primarily to decreased production in the United States, coming off record production levels in the previous year, and to decreases in Germany and Sweden following the shutdown of reactors as part of their continued implementation of policies to phase out nuclear energy. In all, nine units are expected to be shut down over the next five years, all in the OECD Europe region. Five of them are in the United Kingdom.

In contrast, at the start of 2006, ten nuclear units representing a total capacity of 8.6 GWe were under construction in OECD countries, with firm commitments for 17 more, representing a total capacity of 30.2 GWe. Four are being built in Korea, three in Japan, two in the Slovak Republic and one in Finland.

The figures and information above are drawn from the just-published 2006 edition of Nuclear Energy Data, more commonly known as the "Brown Book", which gives an overview of the status of, and trends in, nuclear electricity generation and the fuel cycle up to 2025 in OECD countries. More information is available at www.oecd-nea.org/news/.

Nuclear safety

At their annual meetings during the week of 12 June 2006, the NEA Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA) and the NEA Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI) reviewed their ongoing programmes of work and approved future activities. The CNRA approved the establishment of a new senior-level task group to prepare a policy paper on the regulatory goal of assuring nuclear facility safety. The CSNI continued its work to finalise its new operating plan, due to be adopted in December 2006; a new operating structure for the CSNI has been approved. Several workshops will be organised in 2006 and 2007, including a joint workshop on the use of research in a regulatory context. More information is available at www.oecd-nea.org/nsd/.

Legal affairs

On 24 May 2006 the OECD Council appointed seven independent judges to sit on the European Nuclear Energy Tribunal. This Tribunal was initially established in 1957 in accordance with the Convention on the Establishment of a Security Control in the Field of Nuclear Energy. The Council, acting on proposals submitted by countries party to the 1957 Convention made the appointments in accordance with a procedure of rotation. Since the 1970s the jurisdiction of the Tribunal has been limited to resolving differences concerning the interpretation or application of the 1960 Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy and the 1963 Brussels Supplementary Convention. The application of its security control system (the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons) was suspended in the 1970s in order to avoid duplicating similar systems established by Euratom and the IAEA. As there have been no disputes between the Contracting Parties on the application or interpretation of either of these two Conventions, no cases have been brought before the Tribunal. The judges appointed for the term of office commencing 24 May 2006 are: Dr. Peter Baumann (Austria), Ms. Mia Wouters (Belgium), Mr. Olivier Talevski (Denmark), Ms. Marie-Claire Guyader (France), Dr. Armin von Bogdandy (Germany), Mr. E.A. Maan (Netherlands) and Professor Vaughan Lowe (United Kingdom). The Tribunal will hold an inaugural session in the coming months.

Nuclear science

The NEA Nuclear Science Committee (NSC) held its annual meeting on 31 May–2 June 2006. The Committee reviewed its programme of work and decided to establish two new expert groups: one on minor actinide burning in light water reactors and one on uncertainty analysis in modelling. The NSC also prolonged the mandate for the Working Party on International Nuclear Data Evaluation Co-operation (WPEC) for the period 2006 to 2009. More information is available at www.oecd-nea.org/science/.

Data Bank

The NEA Nuclear Science Committee Executive Group, which oversees the work of the Data Bank, met on 31 May 2006 to review the status of the NEA computer program, nuclear data and chemical thermodynamic data services. The Executive Group noted the declining trend in the acquisition of new computer codes and agreed to make a special effort to encourage the release of additional computer codes to the Data Bank. The Executive Group also extended the mandate of the Joint Evaluated Fission and Fusion (JEFF) project for the period 2006–2009. More information is available at www.oecd-nea.org/databank/.

Computer program services

A page listing all new programs in the last 12 months can be found at: www.oecd-nea.org/tools/abstract/new. .

Instructions on retrieving material from the NEA may be found at www.oecd-nea.org. Please note that scientific database access is only available to residents of OECD/NEA Data Bank member countries.

The monthly bulletin only lists new and updated material. It is distributed by e-mail to registered users of the Nuclear Energy Agency's Online Services and is available online at www.oecd-nea.org/general/mnb/. Registration is free; please use this link.